Tanya Berkowitz
Tanya Berkowitz is the head cheerleader of the Atchison High Cheer Squad and main antagonist of Season 2. She is first seen in episode 18. Personality She is very prim and proper, refusing to use profanity and crass insults like the Overland Park Cheer Squad, insisting that her teammates do the same. Because of this, she comes back at the rival cheer squad with milquetoast insults and burns which Mackenzie likens to "Disney Bullshit." She loves DuckTales, expressing admiration for Scrooge McDuck being able to dive into coins with his "bird bones," and frequently references Adam Sandler movies. According to Tanya herself, the only three things she is afraid of are, "Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the film adaptation of Mario Brothers and the word 'colander'". In Episode 16 of Season 2, she makes a Fullmetal Alchemist reference regarding Deandra's arm, hinting that she may be lowkey fan of anime. However, she isn't as clean-cut as she would have people believe. She relentlessly teases Mackenzie regarding her hair loss, is shown to be aggressively controlling toward Taylor McDevitt and Trisha, who are supposedly her friends, and later completely abandons her no cursing rule completely, matching Mackenzie and Brittnay in vulgarity. She is also shown to be extremely Machiavellian, as she willfully sabotages both Deandra and the Overland Park Cheer Squad in order to further her own goals. The last we see her, she shows a dangerous mentality as she stabs Jenna Darabond and leaves her for dead following Jenna being caught as the arsonist of Atchison Mall. Appearance Outfits Tanya wears an Atchison High Lady Jaguars cheer uniform, consisting of an orange skirt with white accents, white sneakers and socks, and a white turtleneck with orange accents and an orange "A" embroidered on the sweater. She also wears a white hair tie in her hair. When she visits Jenna Darabond in prison, Tanya also wears a trenchcoat to hide her cheer uniform and the knife that she uses to stab the girl responsible for the loss of her mall. Biography Season 2 Tanya makes her first appearance in the Season Two episode, "Atchison," in which she is introduced as the head cheerleader of Atchison High School. She is introduced as a bubbly character who enjoys DuckTales, hates cursing, and holds herself and her squad to what she deems a "higher standard" than the Overland Park squad. In the first episode, she and her squad reveal that the mall in Atchison had burned down. When the Overland Park squad refuses to share their mall, Tanya and Mackenzie place a wager that the winner of Cheer Nationals will claim exclusive access to the Oak Park Mall. She and the other Atchison girls also form an alliance with Ashley Katchadourian. In the episode, "Miss Cinnabon," the Atchison girls return to the mall in order to rendezvous with Ashley, who has no real information for them. While there, they also have a chance meeting with Deandra, revealing that the two of them share a mutual dislike. Deandra, despite her hatred of Tanya, attempts to warn her that the Overland Park girls literally ripped her arms off, but Tanya refuses to listen. When Deandra physically threatens her, Tanya tells her that if any harm comes to her or the Atchison girls, Tanya will reveal why Deandra was forced to leave Atchison. Tanya encounters Mackenzie at the mall during, "Fun Times at Oak Park Mall." During this encounter, she mocks Mackenzie for losing Prom Queen and for her balding, and when she finds out that Mackenzie's baldness is stress-related, consciously brings up Mackenzie's ex-boyfriend, Steven Carmichael. At the end of their conversation, Tanya says that when Mackenzie isn't allowed to curse she has nothing to say. She also alludes to a curse word beginning with the letter "e," leaving Mackenzie confused, but Tanya refuses to elaborate due to her code of conduct. Whether Tanya is attempting to add to Mackenzie's stress in the hopes that Mackenzie will go bald or Tanya actually believes there to be an "e" word is never revealed. At Cheer Nationals, Tanya added to her personal rivalry with Mackenzie by revealing her plans to earn model representation from one of the judges, Jeannie Halverstad, and continuing to mock Mackenzie's hair loss. It was then that she revealed that Ashley Katchadourian had transferred membership to Atchison Cheer Squad, leaving Overland Park down a member until Deandra stepped in due to her grudge against Tanya. It is revealed that Deandra was the Head Cheerleader at Atchison, and that she took Tanya under her wing and taught Tanya everything she knew about cheerleading, at which point Tanya sabotaged Deandra during a cheer, resulting in PoopPocalypse 2011. Deandra then left Atchison in shame. Deandra admitting this irritated Tanya, as she had lost her leverage against Deandra and Overland Park would be allowed to complete, but Tanya confidently moved forward with the final phase of her plan: doing the Overland Park squad's routine right before them, in front of the judges and everyone watching Nationals being televised on TWAT. When Deandra uses her arm to invert the pyramid, resulting in Overland Park's winning Nationals and the Oak Park Mall, and Mackenzie being offered the modelling contract, Tanya snaps, abandons her code of conduct, and curses out the Overland Park squad, believing she can still win in an insult battle. However, Brittany and Mackenzie abandon their respective reasons for not cursing, and Trisha faces off against her nemesis, Ashley Katchadourian, allowing the Overland Park squad to defeat the Atchison girls one last time, resulting in Tanya and her squad retreating in shame. Season 3 In the post-credits of the Season Three finale, a disguised Tanya visits Jenna Darabond in prison and brutally stabs her 6 times with a knife after hearing that she was the one who burned down Atchison Mall. As Jenna lies on the floor, Tanya simply says, "I ''loved ''that mall." It is unknown if Tanya was caught or what has happened to her since her attempted murder of Jenna Darabond. Relationships *Deandra: When Deandra went to Atchison High School, it is revealed that Tanya was not a very talented cheerleader until Deandra trained her. It is also revealed that Tanya sabotaged Deandra by giving pop rocks to her, causing Deandra to poop all over the team due to her already irritated Irritable Bowel Syndrome. *Taylor: Taylor is the Co-Head Vice Captain of the Atchison Cheer Squad, making her Tanya's second in command, similar to the way Brittnay Matthews follows Mackenzie Zales. However, Taylor and Tanya's relationship is less based in friendship than the fact that they are both on the cheer squad. Even in their final appearance together, the extent of their bond seems to be due to their mutual enemy. Tanya often restricts Taylor from acting in a way Taylor would normally act, resulting in the Co-Head Vice Captain's resentment toward Tanya, as well as her glee when she can interact with Brittnay Matthews (her nemesis from her Overland Park days) without Tanya's interference. The most honest and positive interaction they had was when Tanya dropped her no-cursing rule and the two of them cursed out the Overland Park Cheer Squad. Having failed to secure Oak Park Mall, the status of their alliance is unknown. *Trisha: Trisha is on the Atchison High Lady Jaguars with Tanya, resulting in their friendship. Tanya often shows exasperation with her slower friend, who is rarely able to keep up with Tanya's conversations, and often does not hold the same resentments as Tanya. Whether the two of them were actually friends is unknown, but Trisha abandoned the Atchison team completely, including Tanya, and transferred to Overland Park at the request of her friend Trisha Cappelletti. After Trisha's defection, the status of their friendship is unknown. *Ashley Katchadourian: Ashley Katchadourian, motivated by her grudge against Trisha Cappelletti, forms an alliance with Tanya in an attempt to take down the Overland Park Cheer Squad. Despite their mutual goals and grudges, the two never seem to get along that well, with Tanya usually exasperated by her ally. Tanya often makes a point of conveying Ashley Katchadourian's incompetence. Following Ashley Katchadourian transferring back to Overland Park, the status of their relationship is unknown. *Brittnay Matthews: Tanya and Brittnay share an intense dislike for one another. Brittnay often comments on Tanya's lack of swearing, and Tanya often comments on Brittnay's foul language. Along with Mackenzie, Brittnay's refusal to allow the Atchison girls to share Oak Park Mall results in Tanya's wager with Mackenzie for exclusive rights to the mall contingent on winning Nationals. *Mackenzie Zales: Throughout Season Two, Tanya presents herself as Mackenzie's Atchison counterpart, foil, and nemesis. Tanya takes delight in insulting Mackenzie, most notably for her hair loss, and, throughout the season, relishes in attributing to her balding and the fact that Mackenzie cannot respond. Following Mackenzie's triumph of winning Nationals, exclusive rights to Oak Park Mall, and a modelling contract (albeit temporarily), Tanya snaps and expresses a vulgarity on par with and perhaps surpassing Mackenzie's own. It remains to be seen if Tanya will seek revenge. *Jenna Darabond: After hearing that Jenna Darabond was the arsonist responsible for the fire that destroyed Atchison Mall, Tanya snaps completely. She visits Jenna in prison, and upon confirmation of Jenna's crime, attempts to murder her in her cell. This shows hatred and an instability that we had yet to see in any character up to this point. While Jenna is now dead due to an accident caused by Brittany Matthews and mercenaries hired by Mackenzie Zales, whether Tanya faced any consequences for attempting to murder Jenna remains to be seen. Episode Appearances Category:Females Category:Female Category:Villains Category:Atchison characters Category:Cheer Squad Category:Teens